Live Action Role Play Peril
by AgentOfAngst
Summary: Dewey calls the game "Imagination Monopoly", Huey says it looks more like DnD, Louie just thinks it looks boring. But this board game gets a little more interesting when the triplets and Webby are pulled inside and forced to embody their characters and escape with their lives. Multi-chapter request by ButtonMan
1. Bored Game

**This is a Ducktales request by ButtonMan, in which the triplets and Webby get drawn into the world of a game and have to find their way out. I really like this story and I can't wait to really get into it. I hope everyone enjoys the story and the premise and my first longer, multi-chapter DuckTales story :D **

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Chapter 1-Bored Game

Dewey was halted midair when Uncle Donald grabbed the hood of his raincoat, giving him a disapproving look.

"No." He said, shutting the door.

"Aw, come on, I just wanted to play in the rain," Dewey grumbled.

"This," Donald squawked, gesturing towards the window, "isn't rain. It's a flood. A _hurricane._ So you're staying indoors." Dewey crossed his arms now, looking Donald up and down.

"You're in a raincoat," he pointed out.

"I need to take care of the houseboat. Stay inside with the others," Donald said in his stern I-am-an-adult-and-my-word-is-law voice, which sounded like his other voices but was punctuated by furrowed eyebrows.

"Fine."

"Thank you." Donald instinctively kissed Dewey's head and then headed out, and the disappointed kid walked over to his brothers and Webby. Webby and Huey were arguing about some meaningless myth, and Louie looked nearly comatose, studying the ceiling as if it held answers for fixing the staticky picture on the television.

"There's no signal on the tv," Louie groaned, confirming consciousness.

"What do you want to do, then?" Dewey asked, looking around the room.

"We could play a game," Webby suggested, holding up her toy dart gun. Dewey shuddered, remembering the last time they'd played with the toy guns. That had gotten a little out of hand...

"Actually, I found a board game the other day. It looked super old and kinda cool." Dewey said, remembering the game all of a sudden.

"Boring," Louie decided, getting up to leave. Dewey grabbed his hood the way Uncle Donald had grabbed his rain jacket

"You're playing."

"Give me one good reason." Louie protested, falling limp in his brother's grip, which was one of his signature moves.

"Because I'm technically older than you," Dewey said with a smirk, dropping Louie.

"First of all, playing the age card is uncool. Second, I'm not playing if Huey's not playing, since _he's_ technically older than you." Louie returned the smirk, having found another loophole to exploit.

"That's fair. Huey, are you in?" Huey had also eyed the dart gun in concern, and quickly nodded.

"Webby?"

"Yeah!" Webby was the only one who seemed excited.

"I'll go get it." Dewey ran off and recovered the old game he'd found, dusting it off. When he came back, Huey had cleared a space on the floor. Lightning flashed in the background, and the rain continued to beat down, creating a tone that was either ominous or cozy.

"This game says it's a roleplaying board game." Huey's eyes lit up.

"Like Dungeons and Dragons?"

"No, Dungeons and Dragons is lame. This is just like, imagination monopoly," Dewey retorted, holding on to the instruction booklet.

"That doesn't sound lame at _all_," Louie muttered. Dewey threw a green player piece at Louie to shut him up, grabbing a blue one for himself as Huey snatched up the red one. Then he sheepishly offered Webby the only remaining token, which was pink.

"The rules on the box say we each need to come up with a character-" Huey read off the back of the booklet Dewey held before Dewey interrupted.

"I could be a knight, and Huey, you could be a wizard and um, Louie's obviously an elf and Webby, you can be a princess-"

"A princess?" Webby grumbled, holstering her dart gun.

"A warrior princess," Dewey amended. She grinned.

"Cool!"

"Fine," Louie grumbled, flopping down on the ground lazily.

"Louie, roll the dice." Dewey knew that if he didn't force his brother to be an elf, Louie wouldn't be an elf. Normally Louie didn't participate enough in things to even get a participation award. He handed Louie the dice, which Louie lazily dropped, watching the snake eyes fall to the ground. Then he watched the snake eyes turn to snake eyes in a flash, and a slithering emerald green snake wrap around his arm, while the scenery changed from a living room to a meadow. Four voices screamed at once.

"Where are we?!" Louie yelped, frantically shaking his arm to try to get the snake off of it, not noticing in his panic that his hoodie had changed into a hooded elven tunic.

"We're in the game," Huey said, pulling a pencil from behind his ear and finding instead a small wand.

"Cool..." He muttered, glancing at his junior woodchuck guidebook and finding instead a book of spells. He was also wearing a tunic, along with a cape and a floppy red wizard hat. Dewey inspected his armor and found that the instruction booklet he'd been gripping had turned into a shield that was also a map. Useful. He looked at Webby, in a mix of armor and velvet, wielding a bow instead of a dart gun.

"This is kinda cool..." Webby said with a smile.

"Guys, there's a snake attacking me," Louie yelped.

"Aw, come on Louie, he probably just wants to be friends." Dewey teased. Louie looked at his "friend."

"I'm not friends with sna-" The snake continued to slither around Louie, causing him to shudder.

"I hate this..." The elf lamented.

"It's kind of cool we're in the game though," Webby said, examining her bow.

"Cool isn't the word I'd use," Louie complained.

"Just try to relax and find out what it wants," Webby advised. Louie took a deep breath and watched the snake.

"Okay, Dice," He said quietly to his new companion, "I can talk myself out of any problem, so let's talk." The snake hissed in reply, and its eyes flashed with numbers. The four of them were then transported six feet forward.

"Nope!" Louie yelled angrily, throwing up his arms.

"This still isn't cool!"


	2. Tension

Chapter 2-Tension

Dewey looked around, examining his blue armor and their surroundings. Behind them was a castle, there seemed to be some sort of body of water to one side, a stone structure straight ahead, and a dark forest on the other side. They stood in a meadow, filled with wildflowers and grass that was growing out of control. Had it been growing since the last time someone had played it? He looked around and assumed a position of leadership.

"Louie, give me the snake," He ordered, impulsively reaching for the serpent. Dice hissed and bit Dewey, slithering around Louie, snuggling up to him.

"He probably just wants to be friends, Dewey." Louie retorted with a smirk, petting the snake now.

"Okay, so I guess he stays with you." Webby was pretty busy examining her fun new weapon, and Huey was reading his spellbook and fiddling with his red cape, so only Dewey noticed the youngest Duck brother walking towards the castle.

"Where are you going?" Dewey asked.

"There might be people in there who can get us back to the people up there." He needed to talk his way out of this problem. Somehow.

"Please, no one up there is going to notice we're gone for a while. Uncle Donald's manning the boat, and Uncle Scrooge and Launchpad got stuck at the money bin before the storm started." Huey had taken notice and came over, grabbing Louie by the shoulder, causing Louie to scowl. Why did they keep doing this? Grabbing him like he was nothing.

"Louie, the snake was taking us in the other direction." Louie shook off his brother's hand.

"His name is Dice, and that could've been a fluke, you know more about random chance than I do." That actually probably wasn't true, since Louie liked knowing his odds in games of chance. Nonetheless, Louie soldiered on, the others trailing behind.

"Besides, Webby's a Princess, maybe the castle is where we're supposed to be." Then Dice's eyes flashed and sent them backward. Louie struggled with the serpent for a while, walking forward and being flung back, until finally dropping to his knees and wailing, "I just want to go home!" Dice flicked his tongue at him sadly and nuzzled into his neck.

"I think the only way to get home is to win," Huey said.

"And how do you suppose we're going to do that?" Louie asked as Dewey studied his map shield.

"I think we need to get to the X." He pointed it out to his brothers and Webby.

"Can I see the map?" Louie asked, and Dewey handed it over. The map was overlayed by a grid, which started up the gears in Louie's brain. He got it. He saw the angles.

"1, 2, 3- Huey how many grids between where we are and the X?" Huey glanced at the map shield for a few seconds.

"Two sixty-four," Huey said instantly.

"How many perfect 12s is that?"

"24." Huey was like a machine when it came to math. He was secure in this.

"Okay Dice, get us home. Perfect 12." Dice moved them a perfect 3 feet. Louie sighed tiredly.

"Okay, that's it, I'm just gonna walk." Louie decided, huffing off.

"Wrong direction!" Dewey called, studying his map shield.

"I knew this game would be stupid," Louie grumbled, Dice continuing to nuzzle into them. They began moving as a unit, Dice going quiet and not teleporting them, almost like he'd fallen asleep in Louie's tunic hood. So the party trudged on.

"Huey, does your book have anything that'll get us there any faster?" Dewey asked, trying to keep the family together, albeit not succeeding very well. Webby was super distracted and Louie was super discouraged and bad things were bound to happen. He had to admit that he was a little bit scared. It probably wasn't an actual concern, Duck's don't back down, after all. This was just another game that they were going to win. That they _had_ to win.

"Ah, there are a couple of spells that might do something, but I'm still learning them." Dewey let out a frustrated sigh and turned to his younger brother.

"Okay, Louie, that snake of yours going to do anything?" Dewey asked the elf, who had disregarded his previous disregard for the creature and now held a bit of a bond with the snake.

"His name is Dice, and I can't force him to teleport us."

"Well, can you ask him?" Dewey asked, a little exasperated by Louie's flippant attitude.

"Fine. You want to help us out, Dice?" They lurched nine feet forward, the snake seeming pleased with himself.

"Thanks, little guy," Louie muttered, "you're the only sane one here." The snake hissed in agreement.

"I heard that!" Dewey snapped, still a little annoyed with his brother.

"Yeah, and you're the one who thinks this game is cool, so I stand by my statement."

"Actually, I'm the one who is absolutely terrified, Llewelyn, so don't tell me how I feel." Huey let out a low whistle as Louie and Dewey glared at each other. Then they glared at him.

"Shut up Huey!" They snapped in unison.

"Just wanted to tell you we reached something. No need to bite my head off." They stood in front of the stone structure, but neither Louie or Dewey had noticed because they were too busy quietly loathing each other. It had been a long time since the two of them had fought like this.

"Yeah, do we need to talk this out?" Webby offered, trying to stop her friends from fighting. She had never seen it this bad. Huey was used to the occasional outburst, but his brothers were really pulling out all the stops.

"No!" They said, glaring at each other before Louie turned and tried to walk away. Dice looked back at Dewey, calculating feet, pulling Louie back with magic, forcing Louie to fall into Dewey.

"Hey, watch out!" Dewey snapped, pushing Louie away.

"I never wanted to play this game!" Louie shouted, falling onto stone, the stone beginning to lower. The four looked around at each other as they began to separate, each launched into a different part of what turned out to be a twisting, turning maze.

"Louie!" Dewey screamed into the darkness.

"Huey, Webby, where are you?" But it had fallen silent. They were all alone.


	3. Lost

**What do you think would happen if the triplets were separated from each other and from the strengths that they think define them?**

**Bit of a longer chapter, enjoy! **

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Chapter 3-Lost

Dewey scrambled to his feet, turning, writhing, searching for his brothers and Webby. He took a few steps and groaned, falling. His legs felt weak, his ankle had been twisted in the fall. If he was hurt, were the others? He grunted angrily at his foot. His family could be hurt. It wouldn't be super hard to land just a little bit differently and hit your head on the stone instead of your foot. He immediately started panicking, imagining a skull cracked and bleeding on the harsh rock floor, or a concussion that lulled one of his family members to a sleep they would not wake from. He began to scream again.

"Louie! Huey! Webby!" Fruitlessly he screamed for several minutes, limping along, trying to find his way. He didn't know who he was the most worried about, but he knew that this was all his fault. That at any second he could turn the corner and he'd see someone he loved injured or dying, and it would be because he had to play the stupid game. Because he just _had_ to force Louie to be an elf. His feelings of fear and self-hatred grew with every painful step that he took. Then he took a wrong turn into a dead end and the hopelessness overcome him. Dewey began to cry.

"The others will find us," Louie reassured the snake in a whisper. The green-clad elf was pretty banged up from the fall. His knees were skinned and his head was pounding from hitting it as he'd gone down. When he tried to stand, he'd found himself dizzy, so he'd sunk down and tried to tell himself that his family was on their way. He needed them, he always had needed them. He'd been stupid to try to walk away from them. Even if the landscape hadn't been unfamiliar, what could he do on his own? His brothers were smart and capable adventurers. They would change the world. Louie could talk himself out of problems. That was it. Just talk. Just fluff. No substance. And there was no way to talk himself out of this maze, so for half an hour, he waited, and waited, and waited. And no one came. So he picked himself up off the ground, leaning against the wall as his eyesight blurred, and he carried on. Maybe he wasn't the talented triplet, but if his family was in trouble, he'd find a way to get them out of it.

Huey had a confession. He couldn't make heads or tails of his spellbook. Every time he thought he could find any helpful little bit of information, the pages shifted and switched. Magic kind of sucked. He just wanted to help his family, FIND his family, but he felt utterly lost and clueless. And he hated it. He was used to having something to offer, some tidbit of information, some answers to difficult questions. And now? He was stumped. He felt stupid and useless. He couldn't be what his family needed him to be if he didn't have his mind. He was terrified, and angry. He wanted to throw the book across the maze or rip out the pages. Instead, he yelled.

"I JUST WANT A LOCATION SPELL!" The pages flickered, mocking him with the spell he sought before vanishing into the glossary. Huey kept walking, furious and fearful.

Webby's wrist was broken, but she'd gotten to work anyway. She took off her outer cloak and used the sharp part of her arrows to rip it into long strips. Then she tied the strips together as best she could, and then tied the makeshift rope to an arrow, shooting it up to the top of the wall and propelling herself upwards. Her wrist hurt like crazy, but she knew she would only be able to help her brothers if she got to higher ground. Unlike the triplets, she could survive pretty well on her own. The triplets worked best as a unit, but Webby was sort of detachable. She didn't want to be, she liked it so much better when she was fighting alongside her family, but she admitted that she didn't always fit in with the natural flow of the triplets. Although, lately, that flow hadn't seemed as natural. Since they entered the game Louie and Dewey had seemed at each other's throat. Or maybe it had started before they got here when they were arguing about whether or not to play the game. Or maybe there was some underlying tension Webby was just too out of the loop to pick up on. Either way, it bothered her. Especially now, when they had to win this crazy game together. They were a family, they couldn't stop cooperating just because they were driving each other crazy.

Webby ran silently along the top of the maze, locating the middle where they were supposed to go, and then she started looking for the others. She found Huey first, who was well on his way towards the center, muttering angrily at his spellbook.

"Huey!" She yelled. He looked up and let out a relieved laugh.

"I'm saved! Where are the others?"

"I don't know yet, but let me lead you to the middle, that's where we're supposed to be. Then I'll find your brothers."

"Great!" Huey felt a great wave of relief now that a lot of the pressure was off of his shoulders. He wasn't smart enough for this one, and, well, he'd never been a leader. That changed a little bit in a few minutes when Webby came back and put the pressure back on his shoulders.

"I found Louie, but I think he's hurt... I thought he was just being lazy at first because he was lying on the ground, but his head is bleeding and I don't know if he heard me," Webby sounded scared. Huey quickly followed her to his brother, panicking but memorizing the turns as they went.

"Go find Dewey, I'll get Louie back to the center." He knelt beside Louie, who clearly had a concussion.

"Louie?" He whispered. Louie groaned and tried to stand, a little wobbly.

"S-s-sorry," Louie rasped. Huey helped his brother up, putting on arm around his shoulder. Louie lunged away.

"D-don't touch me." He sounded like he was drunk, but really he was just damaged.

"What? Louie, you clearly can't see straight, I have to help you."

"Fine..." Huey was really worried, but he had to get Louie back to the rendezvous point before he could do _anything. _Louie was quieter than normal, except for a few mumbles of pain. Huey had landed softly when they'd fallen into the maze, and could only imagine how Louie felt. He tried to recollect symptoms and treatments from when Dewey had gotten a concussion that one time. Uncle Donald would know what to do, but Huey felt out of his element, second-guessing himself after that spellbook had put him on edge. There was a small fountain in the middle of the maze and Huey used the water and ripped up scraps of his cape to wash and bandage, Louie's head.

"What happened?" He asked Louie.

"When I was falling my forehead clipped one of the walls," Louie explained in a whisper. Huey winced in sympathy.

"Where's Dewey?" Louie asked, looking around, his head throbbing and his vision still blurred.

"Webby went to go find him."

Webby searched the final corner of the maze as quickly as she could, slowing only when she heard the sound of weeping.

"Dewey?" Dewey looked up, tears dripping down his face.

"Webby, thank goodness... Are you okay? Are you hurt? We have to find the others!" Dewey stood painfully, wincing as he stood.

"I found the others. I'm okay except for my wrist, what about you?"

"I think I twisted my ankle, but I'll be fine. Are the others okay?"

"Huey's fine..."

"You hesitated, why did you hesitate? What about Louie, what happened to Louie?" Dewey was frantic as he followed Webby through the maze.

"Louie hit his head, he's kind of out of it," Webby confessed. Dewey felt the tears come back. He was so scared and angry.

"I knew it, I knew something would happen. This is all my fault."

"You can't blame yourself, Louie getting hurt was an accident."

"An accident that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't forced him to play this stupid game." Dewey pointed out, essentially a nervous wreck.

"It'll be okay, Dewey. We just have to stick together and we'll make it out." Webby wasn't used to this emotional, fearful version of Dewey. But she got it. He was just scared for his family. She was too.

"Duck's don't back down," she reminded him, as they got close to the center. Dewey cried a little harder at that.

"Dewey? What's wrong?" Webby asked.

"I wish someone up there knew we were down here..." Dewey sniffled, knowing Uncle Scrooge or Uncle Donald would know what to do. Maybe he wasn't fit to lead.

"We'll get back to them soon," Webby promised, trying to keep Dewey calm.

"We're almost to the center."

Even though his ankle was hurting, as soon as he saw his brothers Dewey started to run. Huey was talking to Louie, keeping him awake, and flipping through his spellbook, trying to find something to help them.

"Louie, I'm so sorry you got hurt," Dewey said, kneeling next to his brother.

"He's not the only one," Huey observed, glancing at Dewey's ankle.

"I'm fine. Louie, how are you feeling?" Dewey asked urgently.

"You're too loud," Louie whispered.

"Sorry," Dewey remembered what it was like to have a concussion and quieted down. Webby climbed down carefully to join them, and when all four were there, the center began to raise. Louie squeezed his eyes shut, dizzy as the platform moved. He opened his eyes just in time to see the unthinkable happen. Together, they had beaten the maze. Now, together, they watched their sister be snatched away by a demonic looking creature from the skies, who carried her towards the castle.


	4. Make-believe

**What about Webbigail? Another longer chapter. I don't realize how long these will be when I write them, sorry! Enjoy!**

Chapter 4- Make-believe

The arguing began immediately.

"We have to go save her," Dewey said.

"You're both hurt. Maybe if we finish the game everything will reset and we'll all be home," Huey argued, stressed out.

"Either we win as a group or we don't really win. We can't risk losing her. She's our sister!" Dewey shouted. Louie winced, standing up, a little wobbly.

"Quiet," he begged. Dewey turned to his brother.

"What do you think?"

"We have to save her," Louie whispered.

"Louie's on my side," Dewey said triumphantly.

"You're both crazy. Neither of you can walk well on your own. You're just going to exacerbate your injuries."

"But what about Webby? Webby hurt her wrist but she still worked tirelessly to track us down and get us to safety. She's family. I don't care if it isn't easy, Duck's don't back down, we're going to save her."

"We don't have a plan," Huey pointed out, terrified. He wasn't a leader!

"We can teleport," Louie mumbled. Dice launched them 11 feet forward. Louie stumbled when they landed, and Huey grabbed him before he could fall. They were somehow back in the meadow as if the game had made the decision for them, they were going to have to go on a sidequest for Webby.

The arguing didn't stop after they'd decided to go after Webby. Huey and Dewey were both nervous wrecks, trying to lead and feeling unable to do so. They squabbled at every little decision. Meanwhile, Louie begged them to be quiet and snapped when either reached out to steady him.

"Don't touch me!" He said for what must have been the hundredth time. Dice was hiding in Louie's hood to avoid the drama.

"Louie, you're going to hurt yourself if you don't let us help," Huey argued.

"You're treating me like a child!" Louie finally roared, then winced and held his head.

"Because we're worried about you," Huey explained, while Dewey fell silent.

"No, that doesn't explain why you act like you're so much older than me. Why you make decisions for me, why you grab me so I'll go wherever the heck you want to go. I'm sick of it!" He hissed quietly, glaring at his blurry brothers, "You aren't Uncle Donald, so stop acting like it."

Dewey and Huey were stunned. Dewey dropped his head in sadness and shame.

"You're right. I've been a jerk. Sometimes I do treat you how Uncle Donald treats us, and sometimes it's not because I'm worried about you. Sometimes I do it because it makes me feel better. I'm not the oldest or the smartest but sometimes I get to be the leader. And I guess I take you for granted, sometimes, because I know I can get you to follow me, even if you don't want to. I'm sorry. I don't deserve to be the leader." Louie was quiet for a few seconds and then suddenly hugged Dewey.

"You should be the leader," Louie whispered, "if you didn't drag me into things, I wouldn't do anything at all. Just... Just don't treat me like a kid." Dewey hugged his brother back, sniffling a little. Despite the armor that covered him, Dewey had been more vulnerable than usual lately.

"We're better together," Dewey declared.

"Yeah and that's why we're going to go save our sister." Huey agreed, holding his wand aloft and attempting a summoning spell. He looked at his brothers, a little emotional himself.

"I'm not Uncle Donald, and Dewey, I'm not even the typical leader. I know that's not the part I play. But Webby is gone, and you two are hurt, so if it's okay with you, let me take charge right now." Dewey and Louie agreed.

"Thanks for asking," Louie said with a grateful smile. Sometimes he just wanted to be asked instead of grabbed. Huey nodded and turned back to his summoning spell, attempting to cast it and willing it to work. Suddenly something came crashing down from the sky. Dewey instinctively screamed, remembering the creature that had kidnapped his sister, but it wasn't a monster back for seconds. It was two wild pegasi, pulling a chariot. Huey jumped up and down in triumph.

"It actually worked!" He whooped, and then sheepishly apologized to Louie for yelling. Dewey gave Huey a thumbs up and examined the horses. They whinnied, seeming a little flighty. Huey's sense of triumph turned to concern, which doubled as Louie approached their ride. He fought the urge to drag Louie back. Dice, who could have stopped Louie, watched from his hood instead. Louie reached out to the pegasi.

"Shh, it's okay, we just need a little help. We won't hurt you." He reassured. The horse calmed, and his brothers gaped at him. Louie had never exactly been an animal person. First the snake, now this?

"Apparently, elves can communicate with animals," Louie said with a smirk. He felt a lot better than he had in the maze, not physically, but mentally. There was finally a way to talk himself out of a problem.

"Let's go."

Webby was confused, to say the least. Of all the kidnappers she'd encountered, these seemed to be the nicest. They set her wrist and replaced her torn cloak, and then they set out a meal. Of all they offered, no explanations were given. At least, not until a tall, regal looking duck entered the room she was imprisoned in.

"My daughter, I do not understand why you ran from me..."

For a few seconds, Webby was floored. This was her father? No wonder he'd kidnapped her. It was still wrong, but at least he had some realistic motivation. She remembered that this was just a character she was playing, that this wasn't her real father, but she played along.

"I don't remember." The king smiled.

"My silly girl. You're home now, and that's all that matters."

"Actually, father, I have friends out there who need me, who also need to get home." Maybe she could be like Louie, and talk her way out. She didn't like lying, but this was more like pretending. After all, they were just playing a game. Like, a very, very real game of make-believe.

"I'm sure they'll be alright."

"But they're hurt, father. I need to go find them."

"Nonsense, you're staying here. Your mother and I won't lose you again. We love you too much to see you slip away." Then the king stood and left her. So much for talking herself out of this problem.

Webby had her bow and arrows, and plenty of resources in the little room. She could've escaped. Even injured, she could have fought her way out. But she was subdued. She'd lied, and accepted this play pretend role of daughter, and now she felt trapped in it. She wanted to find the triplets, she wanted to go home. But what if this could be home? It... It just felt different now. She had never had a mom or a dad before. She loved being accepted into a family, up there, but that family hadn't been hers, first. She could play pretend, she could have a mom and a dad who chose her, who loved her. She could be part of a natural flow... There was a commotion outside. She ran to the window and saw her brothers in a flying chariot. She cast aside make-believe. She already had a family, and she had to fight for it.

The chariot crashed by the castle moat. The bridge was down but heavily guarded, and Dewey and Huey were preparing to attempt to fight a large, growling, 3-headed dog.

"Please stay back," Dewey begged Louie. On the ride there, Louie had seemed to get worse. He had spent the entire ride with his head resting on his knees, eyes squeezed shut. The longer they went without actual treatment, the more Huey and Dewey worried. But Louie had his trademarked smirk plastered on his face and was biting back a groan. He approached the monster with a smile.

"Hey, we're actually supposed to be in there. We serve the king." The dog looked them over and apparently bought Louie's act, stepping aside. Louie's smirk changed to a grateful smile.

"Good boy, you're a good boy..." Louie's vision was still horribly blurred, but he noticed that the dog was chained to the drawbridge. He bent down and grabbed hold of the lock.

"What are you doing?" Huey asked, horrified.

"Bane's a good dog. He didn't ask for this, and he deserves a second chance."

"Right..." Huey was still worried as Louie effortlessly picked the lock that released "Bane." Three heads rewarded Louie with kisses, causing him to laugh.

"Thanks, buddy." Then the three ventured onward.

As the boys fought their way in, Webby began to fight her way out. The guards weren't horribly difficult to take out, even though her wrist was broken. It slowed her down as she took weapons off of her opponents. Her brothers might need weapons if they were going to survive the rest of this game. As she picked up a glittery dagger, she had to laugh.

"I really am acting like Louie." She didn't know that Louie was kind of acting like her.

As the triplets slipped through the palace, Louie talked down and liberated several more creatures. For someone who could hardly see or walk straight (which was only getting worse), he was doing fairly well for himself. Huey and Dewey were a little amazed. Usually, Louie's smooth-talking worked no more than 50% of the time leaving them stranded the other half of the time. Right now he was batting 100 and he couldn't even see the ball. Huey and Dewey appreciated Louie's current finesse, but they were both waiting for the other shoe to drop. Then, they ducked into a room, and it looked like shoes were about to start dropping.

Webby and the triplets had entered the throne room at the same time. The boss battle. They looked at each other and nodded, then they looked at who they were taking on. Webby paled as she saw the King and Queen. Her make-believe parents. Then she anchored herself in the knowledge that her real family was right there. She darted over to them, distributing weapons.

"Sweetheart, what are you doing?" Her mother called.

"Getting out with my real family," She retorted, handing Louie the glittering dagger. He was so proud of her, trying to talk her way out of a problem, and stealing a beautiful dagger. He gave Webby a smirk.

"Don't give him that!" Dewey said, shoving his shield at Louie so Louie could protect himself. Louie was in love with the fancy dagger. He loved intricate weapons, but he had no interest in using it, so he agreed to stand behind the shield for this battle.

"You can talk yourself out of this," He whispered to Webby, "I know you can." Webby smiled at Louie and nodded.

Huey fruitlessly tried to get Dewey to sit out as well but Dewey didn't care about his injury. Not if his family was in danger. The guards charged at them, and Webby, Huey, and Dewey each took out one. Huey then approached the King and Queen, magic sputtering sparks.

"Don't hurt them," Webby said, taking out another guard.

"What?" Huey asked, confused.

"They just miss their daughter. But that's not me. Let me go, your majesty. One day your daughter may return. But you can't play make-believe anymore. Goodbye, good luck." She took her brothers, and the King and Queen watched her leave.


	5. Debatable

**Thank you for the reviews! Glad to see that people are still reading even though I hadn't updated in a while. **

* * *

Chapter 5-Debatable

As soon as they distanced themselves from the castle, the four huddled in an emotional group hug.

"I was worried we'd never see you again," Dewey confessed.

"Are you okay?" Huey asked, looking Webby over. Louie handed his brother the map shield and thanked Webby for the glittery dagger.

"I'm alright. It was just draining. They made it really hard to remember that they weren't my real family." Webby was still sad about that. Louie put a hand on her shoulder.

"We're your family," He told her.

"That means a lot to me, Louie." She smiled at them and then gestured onwards.

"We need to keep going."

"I wonder if I could get the chariot back," Huey pondered.

"I don't think the pegasi want that," Louie said.

"Oh yeah, Louie can talk to animals now. Because he's an elf," Huey explained.

"Still can't see straight though." Louie said it like a joke, but he was miserable. No one laughed.

"How are you feeling?" Webby asked quietly.

"It hurts a lot. I don't feel as dizzy but my eyes just won't adjust, and everything seems too bright and too loud." Louie gave her an honest answer, not wanting to lie about his condition anymore with a casual, "I'm fine." He knew he wasn't fine, he just didn't know what they could do about it.

"We just have to find a faster way to the x. We can't do that maze again, the water or the woods are our best options," Dewey said, studying his map shield.

"Water," Huey said, just as Dewey was suggesting, "Woods."

Then the arguing started again.

Webby slipped away from Huey and Dewey, over to Louie who'd slipped away first and was holding his head.

"I'm sorry you got hurt."

"I wasn't the only one," Louie pointed out. He was seated against a large three-headed dog and Dice sat in his lap, nuzzled against him.

"Yeah, but yours is a little more severe. You've got a brain up there in that head that you need to protect." Louie laughed a little and then winced.

"Because who is Louie Duck without his ability to lie himself out of a problem?"

"That's not all you do," Webby argued with a frown.

"Face it, I'm all style and no substance, not like them," Louie pointed at his brothers, who would have been wrestling if Dewey hadn't been hurt.

"If I had been captured instead of you, I would have stayed. It would have been too tempting, being away from that feeling of not belonging with thing one and thing two over there."

"You know you're not the triplets unless there's three of you?"

"You could take my spot," he joked. Was he joking, though?

"Come on Louie, don't say that. It was tempting for me too, belonging with that little family. I never knew my parents, and I thought it might be nice. But I don't belong there, and frankly, neither do you. You belong with the people who care about you, and we're not in some stuffy old castle. Your brothers need you as much as you need them."

"I just don't bring as much to the table as them."

"You know, people like you because you aren't your brothers. No one needs another Huey or another Dewey. The world needs Louie Duck." Louie laughed again and smiled.

"You're getting good," He complimented.

"Good at what?"

"Talking your way out of a problem. You're almost better than me."

"That's high praise," Webby joked. Louie pointed at his squabbling brothers.

"They're always arguing. Let's see if you can talk them down. Because we should really be going." He knew his condition was getting worse. They needed to win this game, and he couldn't talk his way out of it. If only...

"Okay, I'll be right back." Webby darted over to the brothers and listened for a minute before interjecting.

"Let's make this easier. Each of you tells me the pros of your side." Diplomacy! They started talking at the same time.

"No, no, one at a time." Diplomacy again!

"I'll start-" Okay that was at the exact same time. How dare they. Diplomacy?

"Huey can start because he's technically older," Webby decided.

"That's not fair," Dewey complained.

"Then you start," Huey snapped.

"I will, Hubert."

"Okay, good, now that that's decided, Dewey, present the pros for your side."

"I think we should venture into the woods because there isn't the chance of massive storms and floods and sinking to the bottom of the ocean, and the woods will most certainly be full of creatures that Louie could probably get to help us on our way. Plus, I think that we'll have less of a chance being noticed by kings or kidnappers."

"Huey, what are your pros?"

"One, I can summon a boat so we have a magical boat on our side, two, storms aren't guaranteed, and three, it would get Louie off his feet." Dewey and Louie looked over at Louie, who looked miserable.

"Okay, I actually agree with Huey," Dewey decided. Diplomacy! Or... Maybe something stronger than that. It might not have been smooth talking her way out of a problem, but after the mess with the royal family, she was really happy that she belonged in this family. That she was able to smooth over wrinkles and show her brothers why they mattered. Because they really did matter to her.

"Let's get going, then." Webby went over to Louie.

"We've come to a consensus." Louie grinned.

"I knew you'd set them straight."

"Actually, it was all you. Even when you're down for the count, you still managed to get things done." Louie looked confused.

"What? How?"

"They came to a consensus because they care about you, stupid. And arguing wasn't getting you home any faster." Louie laughed.

"I guess I have a certain charisma."

"What you have is a family who needs you."

"Yeah, yeah. You're already a smooth talker, you don't have to keep proving it."

"Until we've talked ourselves out of this board game, I need to keep proving it."


	6. Ahoy!

Chapter 6-Ahoy!

The boat was as good as you could expect an amateur wizard to conjure. Huey was actually feeling kinda good about himself, and it felt good for the rest of them to get off their feet. Dewey and Webby were still injured after all, despite acting like they were fine. Since he was the only one without injuries and the one who had summoned the boat, Huey took the place as captain, and Webby and Dewey took their places beside Louie keeping him awake, telling bad jokes and stupid stories. Webby told Louie about some of the things she and Lena had done together, stuff she'd never brought up before. Dewey told them about the Dewey Dew-night episodes he had planned. Louie listened but his head was spinning and he wanted to grovel in front of them, begging them to be quiet. The sea was too loud, the sun was too bright, and his eyes blurred.

"Stop," He rasped, hugging himself. The dizziness and blurred vision mixed with turbulent waters led his stomach to hurt as well, and he just wanted to lie down.

"You have to stay awake, Louie," Dewey said gently, watching Louie's eyes, listening to his breath.

"It won't be that long until we've reached the X. We're not that far." Dewey tried to sound hopeful, but he didn't know what dangers awaited them on the open water, nor what lay ahead when they reached the other side. Huey glanced over at his family and did his best to remember what the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook had instructed on sailing. He did have that badge, but the stakes hadn't been as high when he'd gotten it, and he'd had adult supervision. He missed adult supervision. They all did.

"As soon as we get back, we'll get Uncle Donald to take us to the doctor," Dewey promised, trying to get Louie to focus on the future rather than the present. He knew Louie felt sick. He wasn't feeling top notch himself since his ankle had been twisted in the maze. That stupid maze...

"And we will get back soon."

"When's soon, Dewey?" Louie asked, his teeth gritted in pain.

"I don't know, Louie. But we're going to get you home. Ducks don't back down." Louie would have rolled his eyes if he wasn't so in pain.

"I don't want to just sit here and be able to do nothing Dewey! I want to help get us home but I can't, do you know how that feels?"

"That's my whole life, Louie! I try to be a leader, I try to protect you guys and I fail almost every time. It sucks, but things get better because we don't give up. We don't back down. Louie, you get us out of trouble all the time. It's someone else's turn."

"Just..." Louie sighed.

"Are we all just putting on an act all the time?" Louie asked.

"Yeah," his family all agreed.

"Oh. I guess I thought you guys had it all together."

"Nope."

"Hey guys, there's something approaching from the front. I think we should prepare for the worst." Huey warned, pulling a captain's hat that he pulled from nowhere over his wizard's cap and grabbing his spellbook. Dewey and Webby stood.

"Try to talk to them before fighting them," Louie advised, standing up shakily. He couldn't see the ship approaching or the figures that stood upon it. But Dewey was narrating it aloud, so that was good too.

"Pirates!" Dewey cheered, before remembering that that was horrible.

"Oh, we've dealt with pirates before..."

"No, we dealt with skyrates. It might be different on the ocean."

"We've dealt with worse," Dewey said, looking at the pirates. Huey turned to his family.

"You don't know that until we've dealt with it."

"We can't let them board our boat-" Huey began.

"Too late," a pretty female voice said, tapping him on the shoulder. When he turned around, a sword was at his throat.

"This is our boat now," she boasted, and Huey was, well, star struck. The female pirate was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. He stammered out something that was definitely not words and definitely not an objection. She could have this boat, sure. She could have his head if she wanted.

"Not likely," Dewey said, beginning to attack.

"Talk to them!" Louie yelled, stumbling back with a wince as things only got louder. There were only two pirates, but two teenage pirates were enough to take on four slightly injured kids.

"Fighting isn't going to do you any good. We claim this boat in the name of our floating island."

"Excuse me," Louie said, walking forward, his eyes closed to calm the dizziness.

"Can we just talk this out? Because I agree, fighting isn't going to do us any good. Tell me what differentiates your floating island from say, any other island?"

"What gives you the right to ask questions little duck?" The dude pirate asked.

"Nothing in particular, except I'm Louie Duck, and there's an ocean of creatures beneath us that can do you both some permanent damage if we can't talk this out." For someone who couldn't bring himself to open his eyes, Louie did seem to be intimidating.

"Is he bluffing?" The girl demanded, still holding her sword against Huey.

"No, he's an elf, he can talk to animals. He's telling the truth." Webby wanted to applaud Louie for telling the truth, but she figured they should get out of this situation first.

"Fine. My name is Dara North, and this is my brother Grayden. Once we had an island. A real island, where we were Prince and Princess. We ruled together, and our few subjects were happy. And then, we were attacked by the fire princess-"

"Fire princess?"

"The princess of the kingdom you just left. Princess Ashton, who was not satisfied with her family and her kingdom and had to take over what was ours instead. She's a monster, tormented by her loneliness since she abandoned her real family. She tortured and slaughtered our subjects and drove Grayden and I away, onto our ship. Since then we've been gathering a fleet so that one day we can return and take back what is ours." Louie nodded thoughtfully.

"Dewey, show her the map. Can you point out your former island on the map Dara?" Dara moved away from Huey, allowing him to breathe freely again, not that he could breathe in her presence. She was his first big crush, and he felt incredibly giddy and shy. He kept his eye on her to make sure she didn't pull anything. Sure, that was it, that was believable.

"Right there," Dara pointed it out on the map.

"Right where the X is," Dewey said, shocked and excited.

"This is great! We can help each other! You can help us reach the island and we can help you get it back! We will help you!"

"You four can help us?"

"Louie can command animals, Huey knows magic, and Webby and I can fight. We can help you get home, and in turn, you can help us get home." Dewey said, feeling like things were finally falling into place.

"It's... It's worth a shot, actually. Let's go home."

* * *

**I think the story is almost over, I see two more chapters, a final boss and an epilogue type chapter. It's been fun, but it couldn't last forever :(**


	7. Boss Battle

**Second to last chapter! Hope you enjoy! **

* * *

Chapter 7- Boss Battle

"The Wizard can stop staring at me now," Dara said, giving Huey a not so pleasant glance. Huey looked mortified and took several steps backward, burying his head in his spellbook as he prepared to take on the fire princess alongside his family and their new allies. Webby, Grayden, and Dewey were practice sparring, and Louie stood by the edge, watching the churning waves and doing his best to keep his lunch down and his eyes open. He didn't get seasick, but his symptoms were piling up and he just wanted to go home and lie down. He was so, so tired. He wished he could help the others in the final battle, but all he was currently good at was talking.

Unless that's what the final boss required he would continue to be useless and woozy.

Dewey glanced at his brother and sighed. He was embarrassed by his inability to help him. He'd let Louie get hurt on his watch, and it was only getting worse. Whatever brawn he had thought he brought to the table had been quickly put to shame by Huey and Louie's brains. Even in pain, Louie was sharp and capable. He'd talked them out of most of the problems they'd faced so far and coached Webby into talking them out of the other problems. Louie might doubt his skills, but no one else was doubting him now.

Huey was tired as well. He was tired of being a leader, for one thing. Maybe that's one of the reasons he took the first opportunity to fall head over heels for Dara. Dara was a leader, was a beautiful and intimidating princess. She had immediately taken over, commandeering their quest and seemingly steering it in the right direction. He admired her, and he was grateful for her. Neither of his brothers was at 100% right now, which had left leadership on his shoulders. Now leadership was on Dara's shoulders, and he felt immense relief. Of course, he had absolutely no chance with her, she was much older than him, showed no interest in him, and was a fictional character in a game he was actively trying to escape. Unless she wasn't a fictional character...

"Have you always lived here?" Huey asked curiously, looking up at Dara. She seemed to ponder it while keeping her eyes on the horizon.

"No. Once my brother and I lived in another world. And then one day, we landed here. And I couldn't imagine being elsewhere."

"But you lived on the island where the end of the game was. Why didn't you go home?"

"Grayden and I decided that we were happier here than back where we were supposed to call home. We'd only had each other in that other world. We've met a lot of people since then. Some we've helped get back to their home. Others we've helped make their home on our island. I understand that you and your family have to go home, but for others, this is a better reality. Though, since the fire princess attacked, you are the first players I've met. Much of our pillaging was done to those who were here before us." Huey tried to fathom wanting to stay here, but he couldn't. Maybe the appeal was stronger if the only family you'd ever had was already here. Huey knew there were people he wanted to get back to, and people here he needed to take care of.

"I understand the urgency of your situation Huey. We will help you get home as soon as the fire princess is dealt with." Dara promised.

"Thank you. We'll help you get your home back, I promise."

"Good, because we're here."

* * *

The island was beautiful, the prettiest thing in the game. There were a few scorched trees near the entrance to the island, but for the most part, it was perfect and breathtaking, much like Dara in Huey's eyes.

"I see why you'd want to stay," Huey said, taking it all in.

"Yeah, really nice, let's get this over with!" Dewey said, lifting his shield bravely, and then stumbling on his twisted ankle.

"Careful," Huey reminded.

"I'm being careful."

"Louie, you also be careful," Huey decided to caution.

"Yeah, yeah." Louie had his eyes closed, he knew to be careful. Wasn't his fault he couldn't see three feet in front of him.

"Let's hit her with everything we've got!" Webby cheered, trying the rallying cry once more.

"Yeah!" Dara answered, and Grayden held his sword aloft courageously. Though not a man of many words, Grayden was the face of boundless courage. He and his sister had been alone for a long time, in and out of the game. He'd learned pretty quickly how to protect her, learned pretty quickly how to never give up. The retreat from the island, in his mind, had never been surrender. It had always been part of the plan to regroup and become stronger.

Grayden glanced at the ragtag group of injured children. Hopefully, this was stronger enough.

The six of them walked up to the small palace.

"I bet she redecorated," Dara grumbled, kicking down the door. Grayden shrugged.

"Probably, but we can put everything back." He did talk occasionally, but mostly just to his sister.

"Let's go kick her out." Louie was thinking about everything as he walked in. He knew the role he was supposed to play. But from what Dara had said, Princess Ashton didn't need to be kicked out, she needed to be talked down. She had sounded lonely and bitter, like all she wanted was to go home. He was about to suggest that they try a different strategy first when he saw them launch into battle.

"Of course..." He muttered, standing back.

Webby, Dewey, Grayden, and Dara attacked from various sides while Huey began to cast a spell. They were all bringing their strongest to the battle. Only Huey had a little chance against her strongest, which was a raging inferno. The brawn was kept at bay by the flames, and Huey could either shield himself with magic or cast something against her and was choosing to keep his feathers from being singed. Ducks don't back down and all that, but there was really nothing they could do against her. Except talk.

"Princess Ashton!" Louie invoked her name in a shout, causing his head to ache all the more. The sweetest sound to someone was their own name, and Princess Ashton didn't seem to be any different. She didn't calm the inferno but walked towards Louie through the flames, standing in the fire so she still couldn't be reached by the others.

"What do you want?" Fake out Louie would have distracted her with promises to be her loyal servant or some other bluff. But the Louie who could barely see her also saw right through her.

"You're lonely. You thought taking your own island would make you feel fulfilled. You thought you could be all grown up away from your family, but you just want to go home. It's okay Princess. Everyone wants to go home. And your parents miss you, you know? You could go home. They wouldn't be mad at you. They'd be overjoyed. Your family cares about you. Your parents want their daughter back." The flames began to flicker and die down as a tear dripped down her face.

"They miss me?"

"Terribly," Webby agreed, "all they can think about is getting their daughter back. All they can think about is you coming home."

Ashton hesitated. She didn't acknowledge Dara and Grayden as she left their palace, but she did give Louie and Webby a grateful nod as she fleed.

"How much do you wanna bet she stole our ship on the way out?" Dara grumbled when she was gone. Grayden laughed and pulled her into a hug.

"Who cares? We're home now."

"Speaking of home, let's get you four home. Thank you for helping us. You are all mighty warriors." Huey blushed at Dara's compliments and they all followed her through the palace to a room decorated with a bejeweled X on the door.

"X marks the spot..." Dewey laughed tiredly.

"Go ahead inside. Home awaits you on the other side." The four children exchanged a look, and then Huey led them home.


	8. Homecoming

**Last chapter! Hope you enjoy! Yeah!**

Chapter 8- Homecoming

Rain was pounding outside, and that meant there was an outside. Which meant they were inside.

"Get Uncle Donald!" Webby told Huey since he was still the only one who was unharmed. Louie shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket, now that he had a pocket, and tried to bite back a groan. Huey ran to the back to get to the houseboat, fighting against the rain to get to their uncle and getting drenched in the process. He fought his way inside.

"Uncle Donald!" Huey screamed through the boat, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. He was emotional and exhausted. Uncle Donald came sprinting.

"What's wrong?" Huey gave him the SparkNotes version of what had happened.

"We got trapped in an adventure board game and Louie probably has a concussion and the others are also hurt," he explained quickly. Then Donald grabbed him and held him under his arm and fought his way back into the house.

"Go change into dry things and go to bed," Uncle Donald ordered his oldest nephew.

"I'll take care of them," Donald called the nearest hospital to see if it was accepting patients in the middle of a hurricane, and then set out on a long, perilous journey, with his kids in the back.

Fortunately, the rain let up enough for Donald to be able to drive to the hospital. Unfortunately, it still took a while to get there. Enough time for Dewey, Louie, and Webby to reflect.

Dewey still felt guilty for not being able to do more. He should have been able to shine in an adventure based game, but it felt like he hadn't done a single thing right. They'd gotten home, but he felt like he barely contributed. Louie and Webby and Huey had done so much, and he had done so little. At least that's how he felt.

Donald was miserable. All he'd wanted to do was keep his kids safe during the hurricane, and, well, that had backfired. He hadn't thought that that game was still in one piece! After he and Della had gotten trapped inside when they were younger he thought that it was thoroughly destroyed. Apparently not. And his kids got hurt because he was careless. He hated that feeling. He hated looking in the mirror and seeing his kids in pain.

"Hang on, we'll be there soon," Donald promised.

Louie hadn't wanted to play the game in the first part. But now he somewhat missed it. He felt in his pocket for the familiar pair of dice, which used to be a snake that had endeared itself to him. He'd really liked that little snake. He missed it.

"Uncle Donald, can we get a pet snake?" He asked quietly.

"Not right now."

"Okay," Louie muttered. He reached into his pocket once more, and there was the intricate dagger that he'd managed to swipe from the game. how it had remained after they had escaped he had no idea, but it was a nice addition to his collection.

Webby stared out the window, feeling gloomy. Maybe it was the rain or the pain in her wrist, but she just felt sad and out of it. She couldn't force herself to come up with a positive right now. Even though they'd gotten the pirate twins their kingdom back, and reunited the fire princess with her family... With _her_ family. Webby started to cry, quietly. Despite knowing who her real family was, she still kind of regretted not staying with the king and queen. Not letting royalty pamper her and treat her like their daughter. Maybe she'd spent her whole life obsessed over the McDuck family because her own was something she knew so little about. Maybe she had worked really hard to help the triplets find out about their mom because _she_ just wanted to know what it was like to have a mom.

But she doubted she'd ever find out. Her own mystery was one that she had no access to. Granny was never going to tell her what happened to her parents, so she'd stopped trying a long time ago.

They pulled up to the hospital. The doctors got the three kids treatment and kept them overnight because of the hurricane, not because any one of them was in too bad of condition. Except, there was a problem with Louie's eyesight. So an appointment with the optometrist was scheduled for the morning. Louie was not thrilled about that.

"I'm fine," he grumbled the next morning, even though he had a legitimate concussion and vision problems. He was back on solid ground. Back on his own turf where he wasn't as good at things. He had to bluff his way though everything because figuring out what people needed to hear wasn't as easy as figuring out what he wanted to say. He was a fake. He always had been.

"I'm not wearing these," Louie argued after the optometrist gave him a glasses prescription and helped him find some frames.

"Louie," Uncle Donald said, sounding tired, "please."

Louie softened. He'd missed his uncle, he missed that sense of security. Suddenly he wrapped his arms around Uncle Donald.

"Louie?"

"I'm not fine," Louie whispered.

"I know buddy..." Donald held him tight, and for a moment both felt a little safer.

Louie ended up getting the glasses, and he wore them home, not very happy about his new look. Webby and Dewey were quiet on the ride back. And Huey was waiting for them at the door, anxious for their homecoming. Anxious to be with his family, because if the game had taught him anything it was that as long as you had your family, there was hope. When they got home, there was a big, teary group hug. Because honestly, none of them were "fine", it was just getting harder to play pretend.

But things would get better. They had each other. Even if pieces of themselves were still stuck in the box...


End file.
